Hollywood got plenty of good news this summer, with everything from "Horrible Bosses" to "The Help" to "The Hangover 2" making loads of cash. But for every hit, there was a thundering flop. Here are five of the summer's biggest turkeys, and the reasons they didn’t measure up.

'Cowboys & Aliens' had humorless stars
“Cowboys & Aliens” is a sci-fi-action-western starring Indiana Jones and James Bond: What could possibly go wrong? Lots, apparently. Despite the star power of Harrison Ford and Daniel Craig, this wannabe blockbuster made less than $100 million in its first four weeks. For a movie that cost $160 million, that’s devastating news.

Brandon Gray, creator and president of BoxOfficeMojo.com, says the movie may have been doomed from the start. “For any movie, the premise is the foundation, and ‘Cowboys & Aliens’ was conceptually challenged,” he says. “I know it’s based on some comic book, but it feels like a classic case of Hollywood executives putting a lot of terms on a board and throwing darts at it and then combining whatever they land on.”

Plus, Ford and Craig are not a dynamic duo. “Why did they make this sort of wacky, oddball film with the two most humorless leading men in Hollywood?” wonders Guy Lodge, a film critic for InContention.com. “They both seemed to be taking it so seriously, and that was apparent even from the marketing and the trailers. If it had had one Harrison Ford type and then a comic star to play off him — the Tommy Lee Jones/Will Smith dynamic [from ‘Men in Black’] — then that might have looked more appealing.”

'Cars 2' stalled out
Pixar’s latest animated movie made over $185 million, but compared to the studio’s other films, it was a letdown. "Toy Story 3” and “Up,” for instance, both got sterling reviews and Best Picture nominations, but critics hated “Cars 2.” They complained that the story lacked warmth and charm, and that the movie seemed like a ploy to sell merchandise.

Audiences didn’t love it either: Despite the hefty box office, Gray notes that “Cars 2” sold fewer tickets than any other Pixar film. “Disappointment isn’t just about how much money a movie makes,” he says.

Stephanie Duncan, a movie buff from Knoxville, Tenn., took her first grader to see the film. “It was solid, but it was a little too complicated [for him] to follow,” she says. “I think adults would enjoy the references to classic spy movies but that kids really wouldn’t get the jokes. I think Pixar movies usually work when they can relate to their entire audience, both kids and parents.”

It's not easy being 'Green Lantern'
As Lodge says, “This has been the summer of the superhero movie, and at least one of them was doomed to failure.” While people flocked to “Captain America” and “Thor,” they just didn’t care about “Green Lantern,” starring Ryan Reynolds as a pilot who gets superpowers when an alien gives him a magical green ring.

For one thing, the story was a little too weird. “Nothing in the marketing really explained to me what he was,” says Lodge. “I just knew he was a green guy with vague powers. I think they did a very bad marketing job of introducing the character, and they just assumed that people knew. Obviously, people aren’t that invested in the Green Lantern.”

Gray agrees, adding, “It was treated like an A-list superhero movie when it was really B- or C-list. The costume looks cheesy. It lacked a strong villain. The space-fantasy elements are alienating, no pun intended, and it doesn’t help that you had ‘The Green Hornet’ out in January. At least space out your green superheroes.”

'Glee: The 3D Concert Movie' hit sour note
The week it opened, the “Glee” movie didn’t even crack the top 10, and it barely recouped its $9 million budget. That’s a major fall for a franchise that has produced a hit TV show and almost a dozen successful albums. But then again, maybe that’s the problem. In retrospect, it makes sense that “Glee” fans wouldn’t pay 3-D prices for songs they’ve already seen on TV or heard on their iPods. “It just seems like the studio’s obvious attempt at getting more of the tween-set money,” says Duncan. Gray sums it up by saying, “The ‘Glee’ franchise is overexposed."

Ryan Reynolds 0-for-2 with 'The Change-Up'
This was another summer stinker for "Green Lantern" star Ryan Reynolds, starring as a playboy who magically switches bodies with an uptight dad (Jason Bateman.) It was marketed as a goofier version of “Wedding Crashers” or “The Hangover,” complete with sex jokes and potty gags, but it barely made half of its $50 million budget.

“This was supposed to be the big, light summer comedy,” Gray says. “But it relied too much on R-rated gags. R-rated comedies aren’t necessarily successful because they’re R-rated. It’s because they’re funny and have relatable premises. ‘The Change-Up’ didn’t have that. It didn’t understand what made body-switch comedies [like ‘Big’ and ’13 Going on 30’] successful in the past, and that’s a distinct physical change. Going from Jason Bateman to Ryan Reynolds is not that extreme.”

Besides, was anybody hungry for another body-switch comedy? Marya Grandy, a movie fan from Chicago, says, “I really like both Ryan Reynolds and Jason Bateman, but I have already seen this movie. It was called ‘Freaky Friday,’ and it left me with no longing for another installment.”

That’s a lesson Hollywood keeps forgetting: Whether it’s a star or a franchise or a plot device, audiences eventually get sick of the same old thing.

Chairman of the board

Harrison Ford cradles the Board of the Governors Award he was presented with at the 26th annual American Society of Cinematographers' Outstanding Achievement Awards, held in Hollywood, Calif. on Feb. 12, 2012.
(Angela Weiss / Getty Images)
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What's the story, 'Morning Glory'?

Ford and Rachel McAdams attend the UK premiere of their 2010 film, "Morning Glory," held at The Empire Leicester Square on Jan. 11, 2011, in London. He plays a veteran journalist and she an aspiring producer in the world of morning television.
(Dave Hogan / Getty Images)
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'Extraordinary Measures'

In 2010's "Extraordinary Measures," Brendan Fraser, right, plays John Crowley, a biotechnology executive, whose two youngest children were afflicted with Pompe disease. He raises money for research scientist Robert Stonehill (Ford), forming a company to develop a drug to save his children's lives.
(CBS Films)
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'Crossing Over'

Ford plays an immigration officer in 2009's "Crossing Over," which explores the allure of the American dream, and the reality that immigrants find --- and create -- in 21st century Los Angeles.
(The Weinstein Company)
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Advocate

Indy returns!

Ford reprised his role as Indiana Jones in 2008's "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull." Shia LaBeouf played Mutt, Jones' son with "Raiders of the Lost Ark" paramour Marion Ravenwood (Karen Allen).
(Paramount Pictures)
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Meet the press

Ford answers question as he arrives at the Rome Film Festival in October 2006. Ford was at the festival to honor Jim Berkus, co-founder and president of the United Talent Agency.
(Vincenzo Pinto / AFP-Getty Images)
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Drama king

Ford promotes his film "Firewall" at the Coliseum Cinema in Barcelona on March 2006. The film tells the story of a bank-security executive (Ford) who must rob his own bank in order to ensure the safety of his kidnapped wife and children.
(Lluis Gene / AFP-Getty Images)
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Jedi mind trick

Flockhart and Ford pose with storm troopers at the 33rd American Film Institute Life Achievement Awards after-party on June 9, 2005 in Hollywood, Calif. Ford starred as Han Solo in "Star Wars," "The Empire Strikes Back," and "Return of the Jedi."
(Vince Bucci / Getty Images)
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True star

Ford attends a ceremony honoring him with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on May 30, 2003 in Hollywood, Calif.
(Vince Bucci / Getty Images)
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Ready for action

Ford films a scene on the set of "Hollywood Homicide," on Sept. 17, 2002 in Beverly Hills, Calif. He co-starred with Josh Hartnett in this film about two moonlighting L.A. cops.
(Frazer Harrison / Getty Images)
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Real hero

On July 10, 2001, Ford used his helicopter in a search-and-rescue mission in Jackson, Wy. Ford located 13-year-old Boy Scout Cody Clawson, who had wandered off the trail. Clawson's mom told People magazine, "Cody said the kids asked if he got an autograph and he said, 'No, but I got a hug and a handshake, and that's better.'"
(Getty Images / Getty Images)
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Pensive pair

Ford starred opposite Michelle Pfeiffer in the 2000 film, "What Lies Beneath." The pair played a husband and wife who are haunted by a specter from Ford's past.
(Dreamworks)
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Former couple

Ford and his former wife Melissa Mathison attend the premiere of "Six Days and Seven Nights" on June 8, 1998. The two divorced in 2004 after more than two decades of marriage.
(Brenda Chase / Getty Images)
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All wet

Harrison Ford and Anne Heche starred together in "Six Days Seven Nights" as feuding pair who crash on a deserted South Seas island. The film was a notorious flop.
(Touchstone Pictures)
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Power player

Ford is greeted by President Bill Clinton and British Prime Minister Tony Blair at a 2005 White House state dinner honoring Blair and wife Cherie.
(Joyce Naltchayan / AFP-Getty Images)
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Turbulent flight

Harrison Ford starred as the president of the United States in 1997's "Air Force One." The presidential plane is hijacked by bad guy Gary Oldman.
(Columbia Pictures)
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Harvard follies

Ford beams as Nick Gordon and Jason Watkins plant a kiss on him during the Hasty Pudding Theatrics Man of the Year Award Presentation at Harvard University, in Cambridge, Mass., on Feb 20, 1996.
(Stuart Cahill / AFP-Getty Images)
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'Working' for a living

Ford teamed up with Melanie Griffith in this 1988 film about a Staten Island-raised secretary who gets her corporate big break when she impersonates her injured boss -- and stealing her boyfriend (Ford) in the process.
(20th Century Fox)
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'Mosquito Coast'

In this 1986 film, Allie Fox (Ford) and his wife take their family to Central America to build a paradise that is never found.
(Warner Bros.)
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Top cop

Ford starred as Rick Deckard in Ridley Scott's 1982 film "Blade Runner." In the sci-fi thriller, Deckard must track down and kill four replicants (human clones).
(Warner Bros.)
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The birth of Indy

Ford struck cinematic gold starting as swashbuckling archeologist Indiana Jones in 1981's "Raiders of the Lost Ark." The film sparked three sequels.
(Paramount Pictures)
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'The Frisco Kid'

This 1979 comedy, directed by Robert Aldrich, tells the story of a Polish rabbi (played by Gene Wilder) who is traveling to San Francisco, and Ford as a bank robber who befriends him.
(Warner Bros.)
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Reporting for duty

Early break

Director George Lucas took notice of Ford early, casting him in his 1973 film "American Graffitti" opposite other rising stars such as Richard Dreyfuss and Ron Howard.
(Universal Studios)
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Editor's note:
This image contains graphic content that some viewers may find disturbing.